Thursday, August 17, 2017

My life till date has been
like a roller coaster ride but with lots of downs and minimal ups and during
this journey of life I have had different ways of coping with failures and
emotions and it was not that #onething. During the Engineering college days
when I feel down and broken I used to go to the beach alone and sit for couple
of hours in silence lapping up the salt laden air and listen to the waves
crashing on to the beach and then I was back to being normal and take on the
challenge of life. Then after the college I took up a job that entailed me to
stay away from family and many a times away from the sea coast that I had to
find out ways and means to counter the feeling of failures and emotions and I
turned to music to tide me over this feelings and yes it did wonders to me till
such time I found out a new mantra to overcome these feelings.

Once i was back to India
from my overseas assignment one of my friend asked me to accompany him to
Mudumalai forest for a stay in a home stay that was adjoining the forest and to
be frank that 3 days stay there immersing myself with nature had a calming
effect on me and yes i had found the new mantra to combat the negative feelings
and emotions associated with failure. So for the last 12 years when ever I feel
down with emotions and failures I pack my bags and go into the wild and immerse
myself into the nature for couple of days and return refreshed and pepped up to
face the challenges of the life.

This post
has been written for Indispire edition-182 - When you are
down with emotions and failures... what would be the one thing or thought which
would lift you up.. push your failures behind and bring you back on track #onething

Friday, August 11, 2017

Current
news that is grabbing attention of the people of India is that of the stalking
and chasing of a woman at Chandigarh with intent of abduction as perceived by
the victim. The police have lodged a FIR and the boys from influential families
have been remanded by the law. On the same day a woman, mother of two boys was
stalked by an educated middle aged man at Mumbai and he had the audacity to
even go up to her apartment and ring the bell and confront the woman without an
iota of worry about law and showed no remorse when the cops came over and
arrested him. These are only the few of the incidents that has been highlighted
by media because the women in question had the guts to take cudgels against
their tormentors whereas a large number of such incidents does not make it to
the print or news in India.

One
politician had tweeted that the stalking of women is nothing new and these are
due to influence of Bollywood movies which depicts such actions by hero of the
movie to woo the girl. He was trolled on twitter for this comment as the public
felt that it was insensitive comment in support of the accused in the
Chandigarh stalking case but then thinking back about his comment I personally
feel that it is a very valid point with respect to eve teasing, rapes and such
incidents.

PC: Google Images

Going
to a movie has become a craze among the younger generation and the Indian movies
be it Bollywood or regional ones have become an integral part of the current
day youth. It does influence the minds of the youth all because of the media
blitz that is associated the movie and the stars in the current days and in many
cases it mislead the people to construe that if they do the similar things they
would attain fame and fortune as depicted in the movie.

Sadly
most Indian movies show grossly vulgar and crude romantic scenes with hero
chasing the woman, cracking double meaning jokes, and singing songs to woo the
woman and finally does so, corrupt politicians and government officials, power
hungry villains, rags to riches by immoral methods and so forth, this in turn does
create an impression in the minds of the youth who try to do the same in real
life enacting their favorite actor hero. There has been various studies on the
impact of movies on the youth of this country and it is generally proven that
many incidents of eve teasing, rapes, suicides and other immoral activities has
festered in the minds of the people influenced by the movies they see.

Gone are the days of movies being simple and conveying social cause for it does not sell in this fast paced society we live in now a days. Not
all movies are so bad and some that are made showing positive notes have failed
miserably at the box office and hence the producers and directors generally
stick to the proven formula of commercial movies with lots of romance, sex,
violence and so forth with some tilting songs such as “Chikni Chameli” or “Baby
Doll” or “Zandu baam” where women ooze sex simply to arouse the movie goers
which in turn leads to experimentation by public in real life.

So definitely
movies does play a role in shaping the outlook of the people and if they are
foolish enough to believe that what was seen on the screen would work out then
they are sadly mistaken. Reel life is completely different from Real life. So
my advice is to the generations of people who are movie crazy to take what
happens on the screen with a pinch of salt and do not get influenced unlawful
acts seen in the movies.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Spot bellied eagle owl is also know as the "forest eagle owl" and the sighting of these are pretty rare as these owls are generally nocturnal. It is said seeing a spot belled eagle owl is equal to sight 10 tigers or leopards because of its rarity. I was fortunate to sight these beautiful bird three times in last 8 years of my trips into the wild. Here is a portrait of the spot bellied eagle owl.

This image was captured at Bandipur forest recently. Hope you guys like this image.

Monday, August 7, 2017

This morning I got a call from my Mother in law who has gone to
stay with her niece for few days asking me and my family to finish our dinner
very early in the evening on account of Chandra Grahanam. This did piqued my
thoughts of the blind faith being followed by us Hindus and wanted to know more
about the beliefs that are linked to the eclipse throughout the world and I was
pleasantly surprised that Hindus are not the only religion having belief that
eclipses are inauspicious. Here is what I got to know

As per the Hindu Mythology eclipses is caused by Rahu or Ketu the
sworn enemies of the Sun or Moon. The story of this enmity was the consequence
of the fight for Nectar or Amruth- a drink of immortality between the gods and
the demons. When this nectar was being churned out of the ocean and given to
the gods’ one of the demon disguised as a god drank it sitting among gods. The
Sun and the Moon came to know of this and informed Lord Vishnu who in a fit of
anger severed the head of the demon who was in the form of a snake. As the
demon had already tasted the Amruth he became immortal and the head portion
became Rahu and the tail portion became Ketu. Since then they vowed that they
would extract revenge from the Sun and Moon by swallowing them whenever they
come near to them.

Ancient Greeks believed that Solar Eclipse was sign of an angry
god and it was the beginning of disasters and destruction. In Vietnam people
believed that solar eclipse is caused giant frog eating the sun. In ancient China
a celestial dragon swallowing the sun was considered the cause of solar eclipse;
similarly in Korean folklore it was considered the mythical dogs trying to
steal the sun and in Norse culture it was the wolf eating the sun. Similarly American
Indians believed that the bear fought the sun and bit a part of it. As the
story goes the bear then resolves its conflict with the sun then goes to the
moon and takes a bite of it too…may be a explanation as to solar eclipses occurring
two weeks before or after the lunar eclipse. Traditionally people from various
cultures would make loud noises by banging pots and pan or drums during eclipse
to scare away the demon causing the eclipse.

Various Hindu beliefs of eclipse that are still being followed
by Hindus in spite of no scientific proof are listed below

As Eclipse are considered inauspicious do not undertake any work
during Eclipse

Pregnant women should not go out during the eclipse to avoid
deformities to the child they are carrying.

Pregnant women should not use sharp instruments like knife,
scissors needles etc since the child they are carrying can get cleft lips or
birthmarks.

Do not cook food during the tenure of eclipse and do not consume
anything till the eclipse is over.

Should not go out of the house during eclipse

Avoid sex during Eclipse

Do not look at Solar Eclipse with naked eyes for it could blind
you.

Take bath immediately after the eclipse and purify yourself

I still remember my school days when we used to take a piece of
clear glass and darken it with smoke by holding the glass piece over fire to
view the sun during eclipse without affecting the eyes.

Fear of Solar Eclipse still exists in the present day modern
world as many see it an evil omen that brings death, destruction and disasters.
Scientists and astronomers has debunked most of the beliefs of the eclipse but
then people still follow the age old traditions in the event of an eclipse.

I need to thank my Mother in law since it was because of her Comment this morning i made it a point to browse the net and get to know more about these age old beliefs of Eclipse or Grahanam ,not just by Hindus but by people from various parts of the world. I know many would know of all that i have written but this note is for the people around me :)

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Having passed out from school at Delhi in early seventies most
friends were only boys as the society then were too traditional in India and
having a girl was frowned upon. After school most of us dispersed for our
studies to various parts of India and the slowly the bond dissipated due to
tedious communication protocols present at those times. The bond of friendship
at an early age and if it continuous then they are the best as it grows with time
and are very strong. Few are very lucky to have such friends in their lives ---
langoti yaar with whom you could share everything that is happening in one’s
life. Unfortunately I do not have one true friend though I do have many casual friends
that I have picked up at work place or during trips out into nature with whom I
can spend time and relax but cannot share personal details.

During this digital age you gather over thousands of friend be it on
Facebook, Instagram or any other social media networks but then you may hardly
know about the person unless your interaction with the said person is regular basis
or meet in person. Many of these friendships are based on your interests or for
mutual benefits … you scratch my back and I will scratch your type. This is very
evident on the social media networks including on this portal… you like a person’s
blog and you would notice immediately find that person liking your blog
irrespective of the content of the blog. So these friendships gathered on
social media networks hardly pans out in real life unless you know the person
in real life. No doubt you may share all your personal problems with your efriend
since you are very comfortable to venting all your feelings to a computer
screen which is the medium of communication with the knowledge that you are
anonymous and would not be ridiculed or judged.

Real life friends who move away can be in touch easily this day
through various medium available and the bonds of friendship does not break so easily.
So my take on the friendship during this digital era is that you can be in
regular touch with friends irrespective of the distances and maintain the same.
Due to this advancement in technology I was able to reconnect with few of my
classmates from school at the dusk of my life and we do have a very lively
group meeting up and reliving our school days.

Make good friends in life and maintain them throughout and I am sure
you would reap the benefits of friends.

It is said that Lightening does not strike the same place
twice but then it did to my wife. In my Earlier post I had written of my wife
surviving the breast cancer after 8 months treatment plan including 8 sessions
of Chemotherapy, Left breast mastectomy and a month of radiation therapy. All
was well after these treatments and the entire family started picking up the
threads of life and moving forward. But then the providence had something else
in store for us. Within months of stepping out from the dreaded disease my wife
had lump on the right axial which grew big in days and she rushed back to the
medical oncologist who was reviewing her for a checkup and she was asked to
undergo a surgery to remove this lump immediately. The biopsy of this lump came
back positive for cancer i.e. Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (a type of nodal cancer).
This news indeed shook up my wife as well as us for it is pretty rare for a
back to back cancer of different variety. The treatment plan advised by the
doctors was six sessions of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy with gaps of 3 weeks
between each session which we started immediately.

Unlike the previous treatment of Chemotherapy which used to
take just about 3-4 hours this time around the session used to last for over 9
hours and quite painful. After each session of the therapy my wife would become
very weak and have bouts of high fever by the 7th day thereby
emergency admission as in patient at the hospital. I was quite worrying
mentally and also quite expensive financially. So during the entire course of
the treatment she had been admitted into hospital on emergency 5 times in
addition to the therapy admission. Finally the treatments were over by end
January 2017 and three weeks later a follow up PET scan confirmed no presence
of cancer cells in her body. I sincerely hope that the threat of cancer has
vanished and I say this because I have read the NHL can only be treated but not
cured and there is a possibility of re-occurrence over a period of time and if
it does happen same treatment needs to be done.

In addition to my wife undergoing painful treatment process,
the mental and physical stress on me was immense. My pillars of strength during
the first cancer, my sisters’ were not around this time since my youngest
sister had emigrated to USA and the younger one had taken up employment. This
meant that I had to be around in the hospital each time my wife was admitted. I
could not go out of the country where I was employed and work peacefully…if I
do not work I would not be compensated and this did add financial strains and
tensions. I was almost mad with all these stress and I really did not have a
shoulder to cry on and I do not know how I pulled through these times.
Fortunately I have been able to tide over these hurdles and I hope that these
never repeat in my life again for surely I will not be able to take up the
stress and strain once again.

My wife is a survivor again the second time and am proud of
the way she has faced this dreaded disease even though there was a threat to
her life during the treatments.

This post is just to vent out my frustrations which has been building up
inside me and I am sure you would all understand the feelingPS: Image Credits : Google Images

Monday, July 31, 2017

My friend Visu was traveling to Mysore with his mother to his
sisters place and he calls me at the last moment and he calls me to come over
to Mysore so that we can go on a long drive into the nature. So I pack my bags
and go to Mysore and we leave the city after breakfast and coffee at his
sister’s place. The original plan was to go the Nagarhole forest at Kutta side
but then on checking up we were told that the solitary Jungle Lodges jeep
safari on that side has been stopped because of monsoon rains and hence we decided
to go to Kabini backwaters side and try our luck as walking customer at JLR
Kabini. As luck would favor we were able to get accommodation for 2 nights at
JLR Kabini and then first two safari’s we did not see any predators but sighted
other animals such as Elephants, deers, langurs and few birds.

Third safari also was dull for about an hour for the forest
was still with no movements of animals being heard. We then reached a place
from where we could see a shape of an elephant far off nearly a mile away and
on zooming in to check we saw that it was another safari vehicle parked with
all photographers taking images of an animal on the tree and so off we went at
a fast pace to that spot and to our amazement saw the animal in question was
indeed the Black Panther on the tree branch. We were able to get few decent
pictures of the same. Now the other vehicle while maneuvering for better angle
of the Black Panther broke down as the clutch wire got cut and the drama began
there with people trying to start the vehicle so that they can go back to the
resort, but then even after pushing the vehicle downhill to start it would not
start. As the safari timing was nearing closing time it was decided to abandon
the vehicle there itself and all the guests from that vehicle transferred to
our vehicle and we drove back… 17 persons in the jeep which normally carries 8
…. Black panther sighting had pacified most of the guest so all adjusted by
traveling standing J. Read here about my earlier sighting of this beautiful animal Here

Fourth safari on the
day out check out we were quite lucky to spot the sub adult male tiger that had just
separated from its mother and female sibling. Two other vehicles crossed us and went ahead of the waterhole without any pause and we also similarly were moving out and i noticed yellow mushrooms. Our vehicle had stopped to talk to the forest department official who had come the opposite way and after he had left i asked our driver to reverse so that i could take images of the mushrooms. After few moments we started moving out and suddenly our driver stops and says Tiger tiger... and we see this magnificent animal lying down in the open raising its head now and then.

After checking out from JLR Kabini we drove down to
Masinagudi and stayed at Glanton resort which is just before Sigur bridge while
you get down the Kalhati road from Ooty. The high light of this place was that
we had a huge tusker just in front of the room. From Masinagudi we drove back
towards Mysore and while we reached Bandipur we decided to spend one night at
JLR Bandipur. As this is off season there we were able to get 25% discount and
we were the only guest at the resort and during the Safari time we met another
regular who had just checked in… so the entire resort had just three of us for
the night.

Both the safari’s we had no sighting of the tigers or leopards however
we were able to see Spot bellied eagle owl.. an extremely rare bird and is
considered equivalent to 10 tiger sighting, wolf snake and elephant right on
top of the mountain along with its calf.

Trip without any agenda ended on 28th afternoon and my
friend dropped me off at the Railway station for me to catch the Shatabdi
Express back to Chennai.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

During the recent visit to Kabini during the second week of July we did see quite a lot peacocks some dancing with their brightly colored feathers spread. However i found this Image of the Peacock high up on the tree branch showing of its extremely long feathers very beautiful

Monday, July 17, 2017

Traditionally in South India betel leaves, areca nut, coconut, turmeric and
flowers are given to females on most auspicious occasion and is known as
tambulam During weddings this given to both males and females in decorative carry bags when the guests leave the marriage hall. Chewing the
combination of betel leaves, areca nut and lime (Chunna) is supposed to help
digestion after heavy meals and you can see in most South Indian weddings a
plate with these ingredients are place outside the dining hall for the guest.
This combination is generally chewed and swallowed.

In North India it is also consumed and is known as Paan and
various combinations are eaten. Saada paan that just has betel leaves, areca
nut and lime, Meetha paan with additional ingredients such as sweetener and so
forth, or with tobacco. Normally the paan with tobacco is chewed and then spat
out… you can see splotches of red markings on roads, walls, railway platforms
etc in most Indian cities on account of these. Each of these paan shops try to bring out
unique paans with assorted ingredients so as to catch fancy of the consumer and
one such paan is the burning Paan. I came across this video about this paan and
am sharing this with you all. It is all in the taste of the consumer and I find
it quite surprising that such things happen in spite of the health hazards.
Enjoy the Burning Paan :)

I have always have been an avid reader right from my younger
days and have seen quite a few Hollywood movies based on those books. Most
movies have been extremely well adapted from the book and as I had read them it
was a pleasure to watch the scene unfold in visuals before my eyes. Couple of
names of these books crop up in my mind as I write this blog for Indispire as
examples

Guns of Navarone a fiction written by Alistair Maclean : A second world war story where a small team of soldiers are inserted behind German occupied Greece to blow up guns that guard the coast so that allied invasion can take place.I read this book
long before I saw this movie and re-read the same after seeing the movie . The
movie did do justice to the story told in the book.

The Day of the Jackal a thriller written by Frederick Forsyth a story of an assassin
who has been contracted by dissent French paramilitary force OAS to kill the
then French President Charles de Gaulle . Truly a gripping movie even if you
have not read the book. Again the adaption to screenplay is faultless.

Well there are others such as Where Eagles Dare, Puppet on a chain, Way to Dusty
death, Angels& Demons, Da Vinci Code, Exodus, The Godfather, Absolute
Power, The Count of Monte Cristo, Sherlock Holmes, Bourne Series and lot more
that I have read and seen too. As usual in Hollywood the adaptation of the
books into screenplay is well done with little changes unlike in Indian film
industry where the screenplay is tweaked to cater to our local population
thereby changing the entire meaning of the story as written.

Saturday, July 8, 2017

A lively discussion at home regarding
the final rites as per Hindu culture to be done in case of death of the family
member and the reason given was that these rituals are conducted so that the
soul of the departed is appeased and proceed to heaven. In other words if no
rituals are done, then the soul is left wandering as a ghost on this earth
forever. Does this mean the persons of other religions who do not have any
specific rituals when they die remain in this universe in form of a ghost???

If you do believe in ghosts/ spirits
you are not alone in this world since millions of people do believe in them, in
terms of percentages of the population it could be in the regions of 30-40%
which is pretty high considering the fact that there has been no scientific
evidence of the spirit or the ghost. Now why do people believe in them in spite
of no proofs is that our fear of our own mortality plays an important role in
belief in ghosts. Most of us desperately want to believe in life after death –
and the idea of ghosts seems to offer support for such an idea. The belief offers many people comfort — who doesn't
want to believe that our beloved but deceased family members aren't looking out
for us, or with us in our times of need?

Right from medieval times stories of
ghosts or spirits have enthralled and also frightened people in this world. Medicine
men or the Oracles have swayed the thoughts & decisions of many Tribal
chiefs and Kings by their actions or statements of talking with spirits and
deciding the events that were to unfold. They were the most powerful
personalities of the times revered even by the kings and people had blind faith
in them and their bidding.

Even I used to believe and fantasize
about the ghost while I was young and one particular story comes to my mind
where it is said that if you get a strand of hair of a woman ghost and hide it
in your body beneath your skin then you will get all that you aspire in this
materialistic world. Thinking about the way I used to be looking for that
strand of hair during my childhood does bring about a smile on my face even
today.

The thoughts of ghost
may arise as
the result of honest misinterpretation of naturally occurring phenomena (for
example, seeing faces and figures in the shadows or hearing noises made by
animals in the night), or common but frightening anomalous experiences. An
example of the latter would be sleep paralysis episodes that can occur between
sleep and wakefulness. During such episodes, the sufferer is temporarily paralyzed
and may experience a strong sense of presence and a variety of bizarre
hallucinations. Although it can be terrifying, sleep paralysis is essentially
harmless and I have written about this in a blog titled Amaku Pishsasi (Crushing
ghost) few years back. I also wrote of a person hallucinating after excessive
drinking while on night duty at Iraq and the blog was titled Neither here nor there..floatingin air.

Well friends many more pages of
incidents by people can be written and there would be no end to this blog and
so I rest my views here. I am not an believer of ghost or spirit now that i am grown up and added to it the fact that there is no scientific proof of its existence. I do not berate people who believe in them and I would surely like to know your experiences if any of
paranormal activities that you have come across or some interesting stories.
Please post your comments

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Well it is not the call to drink up your booze in one go or the capitalizing of the boat but the phrase that popped up in my mind when i saw couple of mallard ducks with their heads under water looking for their food.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Mankind is driven by their expectations and for most there is
no end it thereby leading a feeling of regret and frustrations throughout their
lives and few take extreme steps to escape it. We keep reading almost daily about
suicides that takes place due to the stress of not able to achieve their
expectations or terrorist attacks and so forth. These expectations can be materialistic,
financial emotional, political and so forth and it is normally stems out of the
society we live in.

Now please do not get me wrong that I am advocating that
there should be no expectations and goals in one’s life for without any of
those there is no life at all. I am only saying that it is natural to a person
to keeping increasing their expectations once they have achieved their initial
targets. The flames of these expectations are stoked by yourself, your partner
or parents in individual’s life and at times it becomes overbearing and
unreasonable. We all seem to be in competition with our siblings, neighbors,
relatives or for the unknown person elsewhere who is much higher to your
present condition. A simple example all of you may agree is that your spouse or
parents would want you have better things than that of your neighbor or a known
relative like a bigger house, high end model car as the guy who lives down the
road or have more properties and money compared to your sibling and so forth.
There is hardly any contentment in what you are achieving.

Some do achieve their expectations
be it materialistic, financial, and emotional but at a steep cost to oneself
and this is never discussed by those who aspire for similar success, for we
live in a hypocritical society where the focus of people is in only in the
success of the person not failures or pains of that person. If only one is
contented with what they have in their lives then they surely would be happy
and in peace with their existence.

Just a random rant that i dreamt last night .On this note I leave an old song by Rolling stone “you don't always get what you want”

Friday, June 23, 2017

There are many places that I would like to visit and explore
the local sites but then the IndiSpire topic was about #TimetoRevisit and two
countries fall under this category one being Iraq and other being Turkey. Brief
recount of my earlier visit and why I would like to go back to those countries
is under

Iraq was the first foreign destination at the age of 25 when I
took up a job there and I was in this beautiful country for over 2 years. Within
this country you had the historical place called Mesopotamia a region between
the two biblical rivers Tigris and Euphrates that was also known as the Cradle of
Civilization for it was here that mankind started to read, write, create laws
and live in cities under an organized government. In addition to Mesopotamia,
Babylon with hanging gardens of Babylon one of the seven wonders of ancient world,
Mythical Garden of Eden are also there. With so much overdose of medieval history
linked with this country I was quite thrilled to be there for I could explore
the place to my hearts fill.

Artistic Depiction of Hanging Gardens Courtesy Google

During these two years I have traveled the length and breadth
of the country to see the marvels of the ancient country and I have seen
remains of Babylon city that had paved roads, mud houses exposed by excavations
in those areas, the reconstructed blue tiled Ishtar Gate that was on the
northern entrance to Babylon city but then unfortunately we have no
photographic records of these as those days we did not have a camera with us; On weekends I have traveled to Mosul, Erbil, Habbaniya, Hillah,
Samarra, Karbala and lot more places but then due to the ongoing war between
Iraq and Iran there were quite a few restrictions to travel and take photos so
in my two years of stay in Iraq I have not documented those beautiful places
and this is the reason I would revisit Iraq and explore the country and also
take images of the glorious ancient places.
#TimetoRevisit (This again is not a possibility now with so much violence
happening in that country).

Hagah Sofia Istanbul . Image taken by me

The second country I would like to revisit is Turkey, which
like Iraq has so many ancient cultures and places to see and enjoy. In the year
2011 I had to visit Istanbul, Turkey on a official trip and after having 5 days
of continuous meeting our host had arranged for half a day sightseeing tour of
Istanbul (European side) and in that short span of 4-5 hours we visited the
Blue Mosque, Hagah Sofia and Topkafi palace, Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar.
You can read my earlier blog about Turkey here.#TimetoRevisit Turkey for the country has lot more places to
explored and enjoyed.

This blog is written for
IndiSpire idea of the week posted by fellow blogger Anita

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Recently I watching television and in one of the Bollywood
function I saw the stars both men and women wearing ripped and tattered blue denim
jeans pants and shirts and this was their fashion statement. I still remember
that ripped jeans pants was quite a rage during late 80’s because Kurt Cobain(Nirvana)
used to wear these. But then it dropped out of fashion after few years and has
resurfaced now with a bang.

Blue denim jeans has been my favorite wear right from the
time I started going to college way back in 1974 as they were quite rugged and
fashionable as well when worn with matching shirts even those days when jeans
were frowned upon by our elders. The more you wear the jeans it used to fade
irregularly and more it fades it was considered fashionable. The markets came
up with an idea to manufacturing new jeans using stone wash/ acid wash, sand
blasting so to fade new jeans to give an appearance of being used over long
period by the wearer.

Courtesy Google Images

I can still hear my mother scolding me not to wear the faded,
torn and tattered jeans for she used to say it makes me look like a beggar and
we used to discard the jeans when the ripping at the knee became too big or if
it was not possible to stitch a funky badge over the tear or sometimes we used
to convert it to shorts. Seeing the current trend in the market where a
tattered and ripped jeans cost lot more than a normal pair and it does makes me
wonder as to why we all discarded the jeans then J

Stars and well known personalities from Hollywood and Music
industry come up with such crazy ideas of fashion and immediately everyone laps
it up including the stars from our country. I have had trouble standing and wearing
the naturally ripped jeans for my toes used to go and get stuck at the tear and
at time make the tear bigger so I keep wondering how does stars wear the ripped
and tattered jeans …possibly they would wear these only once and discard it. Just
a thought!!!

The latest 2017 fashion trend in men’s clothing that was unveiled
in USA this year was Homeless inspired fashion dress or the street people and
this fashion show was mired in various controversies. God knows when the leaf/
loin cloth is going to return as fashion for the trend seems to going back in
times.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Baghdad was one of the most modern cities in the Middle East
late 70”s and 80’s with lot of infrastructure projects taking place with the
advent of increase in petrol price in the world as Iraq was the largest
exporter of oil then. It is in one of the infrastructure project for Amanat Al
Asima (Municipality of Baghdad) which was building of 2000 housing units and
service buildings that was awarded to an Indian company called Makers
Development Services Pvt Ltd. I had
joined the company as a Junior Engineer Electrical and was among the first few
engineers who had left India in first week of April 1981 to set up the
mobilization works on the ground. Those days on account of the war with Iran
there were no direct flights hence had to land at Kuwait city and then proceed
by land and you can read about it in my earlier post Carnivores-brahmin.

First few months we were busy with setting up of the camp,
setting up prefab factory and other support building for the project and were
getting ourselves ready to start the construction phase and during the second month beginning we had an
Israeli Air raid on Baghdad and you can read that in another post Reminiscing of times at Baghdad. We used to
venture out to local market at Al Baaya or go to a theatre there to watch Hindi
movies at time (Hindi movies were quite popular among Iraqis) or to the Mall at
Al Mansur in the evenings after working hours. Weekends 7-10 of us would pile
on to a vehicle and drive down the country side or go to a lake called Razaza
and you can read about it in my post Old Memories of Times in Iraq.

Till about 8 months into stay at Baghdad we had never
ventured out in the night seeking the fabled nightlife of the city but arrival
of a new engineer whose father was in Indian High Commission Baghdad changed it
for he was aware of the hot spots of the city . We started going to night clubs
and used to have fun with scores of dancers on the floor and female companions to
give you company on your table…. What more did we young guys need then :P .One
nightclub stood out those day and it was known as Moulin Rouge… yes the same
name as the one in Paris but not a franchise and here they used to have similar
can-can dance on the stage. This club used to charge us Iraqi Dinar 2 for entry
and on table would give us a roasted chicken and a can of beer free. Scores of beautiful
girls (Various nationalities..Ceylonese, Egyptians, Lebanese) would line up
along the bar or on the sides and you could call them to your table for a drink.
A drink that costs you 1dinar would be charged 10 dinar for the girls drink and
she would not stay long on the table when she finishes her drink. This was
first time we had been there and we never knew the cost of having those girls
on the table and we all 7 freaked out there and finally we had to pay a hefty
bill in the process. Next time onwards we were pretty judicious with our
calling out for these bar girls.

Tried to get to know more about this nightclub on Google but no
hits regarding various nightclubs of Baghdad of 1980’s at all except for
passing statements that the city was renowned for the nightlife until 1994 when
Saddam Hussein shut down all bars and nightclubs. There were few other
nightclubs but their names have faded in my memories and am unable to recall
them. I believe the nightclubs have opened up once again in Iraq but not much action in Baghdad because of moral policing however up north at Erbil the bars are flourishing without any fear of ISIS or moral policing.

PS: Most of what has been written are my personal experiences during my stay in the country from 1981 to 1983 and at that point of time the rule was we needed to spend 30% of our salary within Iraq and being flush with money during the war times was great. We have had great times as a group there and i always tell my relatives that my assignment there was just like my stay at engineering college... a carefree life it was. Hope you all enjoyed my recount. Thanks for passing by.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Getting old is the way of nature but then the human mind is pretty
sharp right until death unless of course the person is suffering from ailment
that affects ones memory. To keep it sharp we need to exercise the brain
regularly similar to going to a gym for maintaining good physique. But these days
we have new gadgets to help us out and we hardly work out our brain as we have started depending on the devices for simple actions such as recalling a number or doing simple mathematics in our day to day lives and am sure you would agree with it.

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Off late when somebody asks me for a contact’s telephone
number I immediately take out my mobile phone and scroll the contacts and give
them the number. But this was not the case in good old days (35 years back) before
the advent of the mobile devices; for I could remember over 100 telephone and
recite them from my memory. Reason for this decline in memory is not due to
your grey cells are dying .It is because
that we do not attempt to etch the numbers to the memory like we used to
do it earlier days ,as now we have all grown too used to referring the mobile
phone’s memory .

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Similarly simple additions, subtractions, multiplication and
divisions were done in the mind good old days but now days I have noticed that
most people would immediately take a calculator or mobile with that application
for simple calculations instead of remembering the basic mathematics that they
had studied in their school days. You can notice it quite prevalent in super
markets and shops most cashiers use the calculators for working out the balance
money to be given back even if the subtraction is a simple one. It is quite
possible that they are paranoid of having to pay up from their salary in they
make mistake when they calculate without use of devices.

This is just a random ramble of a bored mind and not
advocating that gadgets of current times are bad only that I feel bad that the
younger generation is too dependent of these gadgets that they can do it in
their minds. My suggestion is that each one of you make attempt in memorizing
few numbers of your loved ones so that any failures of the devices you depend
on does not affect you in contacting them in the event of emergencies.

I sure would love to hear your thoughts about the same and
your experiences of utilizing your grey cells J

Friday, June 16, 2017

A recent news report I read tells of a Kuwaiti women finding
out that her husband has taken a second wife without informing anyone of that
decision. A secret kept for over 8 months is exposed by pure chance when the
woman telephoned a local hotel for ordering pre dawn meals Suhoor as it is the
holy month of Ramadan. She requested the hotel to ensure early delivery and the
hotel employee asked her for telephone number for verifying the address and to
avoid confusions and she promptly gave her husband’s mobile number. This number
was already registered in hotel’s system with the address and the hotel
employee started reciting the address against this number and the woman realized
that this was a different address and not that of her home so she jotted it
down after giving the correct address for delivery.

This Kuwaiti first wife later went to the address and rang
the bell of the flat and she found that the door was opened by an expatriate woman
(non Kuwaiti). She then asked the expat woman the name of the flat owner and
when she got her answer her worst fears were confirmed that her husband had
married again without discussing about this with her or any other relatives.
The expatriate woman stated that she was legally married to the man after
meeting him 8 months back in a shopping mall. In a fit of anger she assaulted the expatriate
woman verbally as well as physical and the neighbors had already called the
cops. Both women we taken to the police station and the husband was summoned to
the police station to resolve the issue. The report does not mention what
happened thereafter and it is left to the readers’ imagination.You can read the original news report here

This incident made me look up Google to check that
if a Muslim man has the right to marry again without informing the first wife as they practice polygamy and
this is what I found

Islam permits man to have more than a wife but it stipulates that
certain conditions are to be met in this regard, “If a man is able to take a second
wife, physically and financially, and he can treat both wives in a just manner,
and he wants to, then he is allowed to do so according to Islam. Allah says, “Then marry (other) women of your choice, two
or three, or four.” (An-Nisa’: 3)

But it is not obligatory for the husband to have the consent of
his first wife, if he wants to take a second wife. However it is considered it
is good manners and kindness to deal with first wife in such a manner that it
will minimize her hurt feelings due to husband’s action. So it’s incumbent on
the husband to be kind to his wife, discuss the matter with her in a gentle and
pleasant manner, and this should be coupled with spending whatever money may be
necessary in order to gain her acceptance of the situation.”

I hope all is well that Kuwaiti man who was unfortunate to have been caught by his first wife in an unusual way.

About Me

A widely traveled, an engineer by profession and reaching the milestone of becoming a senior citizen, living each day of life as it comes. Life is short so enjoy while it lasts. Love wildlife adventures and visiting new places